Recessed lighting fixture



March 11, 1952 R. PRYNE 2,588,760

RECESSED LIGHTING FIXTURE Filed July 12, 1948 I JNVENTOR.

BY 7ZaZph Pgn Patented Mar. 11, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RECESSED LIGHTING FIXTURE Ralph Pryne, Pomona, Calif.

Application July 12, 1948, Serial No. 38,234

1 Claim. 1

My invention relates to an improved electric lighting fixture of the general type wherein the fixture is recessed in the ceiling or other wall or a building structure.

It has been common practice to mount lighting fixtures on what are termed terminal or junction boxes of a conduit system, which provide access for splicing and connecting conductors of an electrical circuit only from inside the fixture or on one side of the terminal box. This usually requires an electrician or other workman working from the top of a ladder, reaching overhead when making an installation and experiencing difficulty in crowding the spliced or connected wires into the terminal box. This feature has been found objectionable and even hazardous and it is an object of my invention to overcome this objection in a simple and effective manner. Among further objects are the saving of time and labor in mounting, connecting or repairing lighting fixtures either of recessed or any other type.

To these ends my invention comprises the fea tures of construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, Fig. 1 is a plan of a recess lighting fixture when mounted upon a terminal box of a conduit system, a portion of said box being broken away to expose the electric terminal wiring connections therein; Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken approximately on the line 22 of Fig. 1, showing the lighting fixture installed in a ceiling structure when in use, the outlet box and conduit connections being shOWn in full, and Fig. 3 is a plan of a detail portion of the lighting fixture.

In the drawing, A represents an ordinary recessed lighting fixture which is adapted to be installed in the ceiling B or other wall of a building structure and C represents a terminal box of a conventional conduit system, to the open lower side of which the lighting fixture is coupled as hereinafter described. The usual illuminating lamp socket means D of a lighting fixture A is connected to the electric current supply conductors furnished through the conduit system, by soldering and taping joints of the connecting wires or by connecting the terminal wires 40 to the terminals ll of the lamp socket. This requires the electrician or other workman who makes the installation to reach upwardly while working and to crowd the wiring into the terminal box after the terminals are spliced or otherwise connected. It is also necessitates reaching upwardly into the fixture and ceiling from below to either splice the terminals or make repairs. This is awkward and at times hazardous.

My invention therefore provides an improvement relating to an electrical fixture which is installed in the ceiling or other wall of a building structure, said fixture being incorporated with a service chamber which has opposite sides, said sides being normally closed by removable covers, whereby the electrical terminals in the chamber are readily accessible from either side of said chamber by opening or removing a corresponding cover. In the present illustration of my improvement the terminal box C of a conventional 00nduit system represents the service chamber, A the electric fixture, and B the wall structure which may represent the ceiling or side wall of a building. Normally the conventional cover on the lower side of the conduit terminal box is substituted by the upper end 16 of the outer shell of the fixture and by the disk plate or holder 28 by which the fixture is clasped on the terminal box, and the upper side of the terminal box is closed by the removable cover E.

The recessed lighting fixture as shown has a cylindrical outer shell or body l5 arranged with its axis disposed vertically and provided with an upper end plate !6 which is removably fastened from below to flanges I 8 on the sides of the terminal box C by the holding disk 28 and screws 20. The end plate I5 and holding disk 28 are substituted in place of the conventional cover which normally closed the terminal box. The lower end of the outer shell [5 engages closely through a corresponding opening 2| in the usual ceiling structure is and is securely fastened to the rafters 23 or other frame work in the ceilin by clips 24 on the side of said shell and screws 25 or other suitable fastening means.

An inner vertical cylindrical shell 26 is supported while spaced inwardly from the outer shell l5 by screws 21 which engage downwardly through the disk 28, said screws being adjustably fastened at their lower ends to the angle supports 29, said supports in turn being secured to the upper end of the shell 26. The lower end of the inner shell 26 has a laterally extended horizontal flange 30 which is held upwardly in close engagement with the ceiling around the opening 2|, in which position it is maintained by the depending adjusting screws 21 and provides an ornamental finish around the opening inwardly through the shell.

The lamp socket D is shown clamped to the 3 central portion of the holding disk 28, with its open end directed downwardly and a suitable lighting element such as the electric lamp bulb F is removably secured upwardly into the socket. The inner surface of the inner cylindrical shell 26 also serves as a reflector around the lamp. The upper end of the socket D has the usual wire coupling terminals I l to which the terminal ends 10 of the wiring circuit are adapted to be easily connected and closed in the terminal box C of the conduit system from above. Or the connections mentioned can be made from below the terminal box by reaching overhead through the fixture, which latter is difiicult and inconvenient.

The supporting disk 28 is provided with a short circumferentially disposed key slot 33 (Fig. 3), for each of the screws 20, by which the outer shell is fastened upwardly to the terminal box C. One end of each slot is of sufficient diameter or size to admit the head of the companion screw, whereby said disk can be adjusted and made to engage and support or release the outer shell from below the terminal box when assembling or dismantling the lighting fixture from below.

The cover element E thus functions as an outlet cover on the terminal box, and the upper end It of the outside shell l of the electrical fixture and its companion holding disk 28 function as a cover on the lower side of the terminal box, both upper and lower covers on the terminal box being removably fastened so as to permit access into the box for splicing or adjusting electrical connections. The term splicing as used in this specification and the claims following is intended to mean any form of connection between the terminal wires of the conduit system or other electric supply circuit and the electrical activated means employed in the fixture or its equivalent.

While I have shown and described the application of my invention, wherein the inside cover on the terminal box or chamber, lies in the same plane as the outside cover, it is to be understood that the invention is equally applicable wherein the covers or working sides of the box or chamber lie in different planes. One typical illustration being with a lamp in a horizontal rather than a vertical position, and another where terminal box or service chamber means is at one side instead of overhead. My invention is also equally applicable in an equivalent sense in a side wall as Well as in a ceiling wall as illus-- trated.

Various other modifications are contemplated within the spirit of the invention and within the scope of the following claim.

I claim:

In a lighting fixture unit, concentrically arranged inner and outer shells in spaced apart relation, a cover on the upper end of the outer shell having a central opening for accommodating a lamp fixture, said inner shell being provided on its lower end with a radial flange having an upwardly extending rim portion, said flange being of a diameter to extend beyond the outer shell with the outwardly extending portion of said radial flange being arranged to overlie the edge of a building wall in which the fixture is installed, an electrical conduit outlet box having its lower side open and presented to said cover, threaded fasteners extending through openings in said cover with their ends received in correspondingly threaded openings in said outlet box, a closure disk having keyhole slots at diametral pfiints to receive certain of said threaded fasteners for removably securing said disk to the urn derside of said cover, an electric lamp socket supported in' said disk with a portion projecting into said outlet box and a portion projecting beneath said disk into said shell, a removable cover for the upper portion of said outlet box, bracket members secured to said inner shell and threaded fasteners extending through said disk and bracket members for anchoring said brackets to said outer shell cover and adjustably supporting said inner shell. RALPH PRYNE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS may be found in Division of this Oifice. 

